The People on the Bus Wear PPE, All Day Long.


Today saw my first public transport adventure since the COVID lockdown and my first visit to a town centre (Stevenage, unfortunately*) in months.

Using the bus was fine, actually, though it would probably have been a different story at a busier time of day. Still, the trip to town was an eye-opener, when you consider people's attitude to personal safety. Whole families were walking around maskless, crossing my personal space, and the covered-over bus stop was full of people sitting next to each other with their masks around their necks like it somehow only mattered if you're close to others in a moving vehicle.

It perplexes me how people can be blasé about the risk. These restrictions - most of which have admittedly been poorly executed - weren't just instigated for something to do. The lockdown's not the enemy to celebrate the easing of; the problem's the illness.

The public's bad attitude to the pandemic is best illustrated by the numbers who rush to Britain's beaches each time we have a hot spell. It's like they think viruses take bank holidays off too. Is the threat of an uncurable airborne illness so intangible?

*Richard Curtis, take note.

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